LANL has always been an early adopter of transformational high performance computing (HPC) technology. For example, in the 1970s when HPC was scalar; LANL acquired the first Cray-1 vector supercomputer. When HPC was vector; LANL acquired the first TMC CM-5 massively parallel supercomputer; the first #1 on the TOP500 list. In the 2000s, HPC was distributed memory; LANL and IBM built Roadrunner, the first hybrid supercomputer and the first supercomputer to attain a sustained petaflop/second.

Roadrunner Open Science: important strides taken

Open Science (unclassified work) on Roadrunner, the world’s first petaflop/s computer, resulted in significant breakthroughs in materials, astronomy, and laser plasma science. Presented here are images, movies, and brief explanations of the exciting new work done on Roadrunner by seven Principal Investigators (P.I.s):

In November 2008, it reached a top performance of 1.456 petaflops, retaining its top spot in the TOP500 list.[4] It was also the fourth-most energy-efficient supercomputer in the world on the Supermicro Green500 list, with an operational rate of 444.94 megaflops per watt of power used. The hybrid Roadrunner design was then reused for several other energy efficient supercomputers.[5] Roadrunner was decommissioned by Los Alamos on March 31, 2013.[6] In its place, Los Alamos uses a supercomputer called Cielo, which was installed in 2010. Cielo is smaller and more energy efficient than Roadrunner, and cost $54 million.[6]